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New York Giants Defeat Washington Redskins 20-6, but Multiple Major Injuries the Real Story

December 29th, 2013 at 4:25 PM By Dan Benton

The New York Giants and Washington Redskins each entered Sunday's game with little to play for. Both were locked into their positions in the NFC East and a win/loss merely impacted their draft position. And although both promised to play for pride, few could have foreseen what would unfold on a cold and rainy day in East Rutherford, NJ.

Going into a meaningless game, there's always a concern over unnecessary injuries. But what befell the Giants was something no one could have dreamed up in their most wild of theories and projections. Not only did the team lose quarterback Eli Manning (ankle), wide receivers Hakeem Nicks (ankle) and Rueben Randle (knee), running back Peyton Hillis (neck/back) and guard James Brewer (ankle), but they lost tackle Will Beatty to, perhaps, the most devastating injury of all.

In what will most certainly impact their offseason, and quite possibly the start of next season, Beatty suffered a vicious broken leg when attempting to bring down a tipped pass.

The injuries, of course, will overshadow the game itself — a game that was, as expected, played every bit as poorly as their respective records would indicate. It was filled will missed tackles, drops, turnovers, offensive futility and the aforementioned injuries. It featured three fights and some very dirty and questionable plays. Expect big fines to be levied next week.

However, in a game filled with so much negativity, there were a few bright spots.

Justin Tuck recorded two sacks in what could be his final game as a Giant, bringing his season total to 11. Meanwhile, Jerrel Jernigan continued to put on a show, taking complete advantage of the opportunity he's been given, hauling in six receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown. But it didn't end there as he added another 57 yards and a touchdown on two carries.

Peyton Hillis also took advantage of increased playing time following an Andre Brown fumble, gaining 56 yards on 17 carries in what could have been his final NFL game (which, not surprisingly, ended with an injury).

At the end of the day (royalties to Antrel Rolle), head coach Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants did exactly what they set out to do. They finished the season with a victory within the division, and did so with pride. They ended the year going 7-3, but it came at an incredible cost. How severe some of the injuries are remains to be seen, but it's already known that they will impact the offseason (at least in the case of Beatty).

With the season now over, the Giants will move forward and begin signing players to Reserve/Future contracts on Monday afternoon.

I didn’t live through the 60s and 70s, but I feel like a lot of those ingredients are at play here. Namely, the Maras won’t make heads roll after the sheer idiocy of allowing Eli Manning to take more than a token series behind the worst offensive line basically in team history. To make matters worse, the same coach will require the same entitled one to sabotage the franchise quarterback’s prime.

Not a good situation. I’d fire Coughlin in the locker room if this was my team and I was cutting the $20M of checks annually to Eli.

Giants pride? My team is a sloppy, turnover happy, and now battered joke.

This was honestly the worst case scenario for the end of the season. We won a bunch of meaningless games in the most unimpressive fashion possible and lost a bunch of key players to injury with at least one impacting next season (Beatty’s leg). Played ourselves out of a top 5 pick but not enough to make any game feel meaningful let alone get into a playoff spot. We played 2 meaningful games all year and both were against Dallas and both were embarrassing losses to one of our most hated rivals. A bad enough record to leave 90% of our games feeling unimportant but not quite bad enough to force the owner’s hand in making drastic changes. Our franchise 100 million dollar QB looks worse than most of the rookies and our dreadful OL needs to be entirely retooled (with Beatty’s injury it leaves literally just Pugh worth keeping) but is currently handicapped by some bad contracts (Bass and Snee). Looks like Nicks is toast. Is Wilson healthy enough to play? What about the contract situations of Rolle, Tuck, and Beason? Can Eli bounce back? JPP?

Can’t say I didn’t see this coming (predicted 6 wins at the beginning of the season) but it still hurts. Reese has his plate full this offseason and will certainly answer questions concerning his competence, one way or another.

They are blowing this way out of proportion. I watched him answer the question and he simply said “I’m not answering any questions about the offseason right now. Don’t ask me that stuff.” He was referring to himself, players, etc. There’s no hidden meaning here. He wanted to focus on his team finishing strong.